‘Stray bullet’ leaves new bride widowed

Publish Date: 29-12-16 9:35 PM

SANGAM: When Shazia, 29, married Arif Ahmad Shah on October 16, she would have never imagined that her husband would be killed by a “stray bullet” near the site of an encounter between militants and policemen.
In Hassanpora Arwani in Anantnag district, Arif Ahmad Shah was hit by a bullet in the back of his neck on December 8. Police said he was hit by a stray bullet during the exchange of fire between them and the miitants. Since the killing of her husband, Shazia is in such a state of shock that she does not want to talk to anyone.
“The tragedy of losing her husband has left her in utter shock. She is always lost in thoughts. She hardly talks to anyone and only keeps looking at the pictures of her husband on mobile phone,” said her close relative Sabzar Ahmad.
“There cannot be a worse tragedy for a young bride,” Sabzar said.
The killing of Arif has also left shattered his ailing parents. The family has lost its sole bread earner and the parents their only son who lived wth them. They have one more son but he lives with his in-laws since his marriage.
“Due to poverty they had offered their younger son to live with his wife’s family a couple of years ago,” another relative of the family, Showkat Ahmad, told Kashmir Reader.
The slain youth’s father, Muhammad Amin Shah, suffers from chronic cardiac ailments and has already undergone two surgeries. Arif’s mother Firdosa, too, has undergone a surgery.
“The ailing couple had already bid goodbye to their one son and Arif, who had started working with a private cellular company in the past one year, was their only hope,” Showkat Ahmad said.
As the relatives of the Shah family were speaking of the family’s loss, Muhammad Amin Shah suddenly spoke up from the corner of a small room. “We are completely ruined. Arif’s death has shattered our world,” he said.